Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
